Employees are protected from suffering a detriment or dismissal for taking, or seeking to take, paternity leave.

Detrimental treatment and paternity leave

An employer must not subject an employee to any detriment by acting or deliberately failing to act, because they took or sought to take paternity leave.

Examples of detrimental treatment include denial of promotion, facilities or training opportunities which normally would have been available to the employee.

If you believe you have suffered detrimental treatment under these circumstances, then you should raise a grievance with your employer.

Dismissal and paternity leave

You should not be dismissed or be selected for redundancy because you took, or sought to take, paternity leave. Your employer cannot prevent you from returning to work after your paternity leave ends.

If you are dismissed by your employer in these circumstances, then you can make a complaint of unfair dismissal to an employment tribunal (or industrial tribunal in Northern Ireland), regardless of your length of service.

Redundancy during paternity leave

If there is a redundancy situation at the same time as you are on paternity leave, you must be treated the same as any other employee under the circumstances. This includes being consulted about the redundancy or considered for any other suitable job vacancies.